This is a relay story by ElegantPaws, kbrand5333 and EpicArwen. Enjoy! We certainly have been enjoying writing it!
Part 1: ElegantPaws
He was striving for innocuous unsuccessfully at the moment what with constant drip, drip, drip, down the back of his collar like slow water torture from the stairwell above.
Still, it was an excellent vantage point for street level. That is so long as he continued to crouch just below sight lines. He flexed fatigued thigh muscles cracking his spine for good measure and felt some semblance of relief in the movement.
Damp leather gloves adjusted his collar as he hissed feeling the pull of the impromptu patchwork quilt Merlin had done closing the wound on his forearm just hours before; would have to see to that soon before possible infection set in. After all, it was his favoured arm.
Never missed a kill shot with it, investment that.
His teeth began to chatter as he exhaled while irritable pale eyes lazily tracked the coil of his own breath dispersing like tendrils into the cold night air.
It was the endless waiting he hated most in his profession.
Thirty minutes, his ass. Why had she picked this dejected little spot on a backstreet for the meet, if she bloody well could not find it for a start? He'd love to see her navigate these back stairs in her usual ridiculous heels, considering how slick and wet the railings were.
Arthur grinned maliciously, imagining the fussy little bitch trying to balance and look dignified whilst climbing; it would be quite the show. A sudden gust of wind made his joy short lived however as cold gray-blue eyes narrowed in displeasure when the clack of rapidly approaching heels on wet cement caught his attention.
DeGrace.
Damn her to hell and back! Only she would take it upon herself to call him out on a night like this. A night better served by sleep after a seventy-two hour assignment that had been touch and go at best, the retrieval team nearly botching the exit strategy.
The abrupt halt of her familiar footfalls and a switch in directions – she must be lost. He would have to retrieve her. Dear God how had he ever been saddled with DeGrace as contact?
Arthur stood, adjusting his coat with an irritated flourish, just as the screech of a fast moving vehicle sailed below him in the alley, closely followed by a barrage of dull pop, popping sounds that echoed into the night chorused by those same heels skidding forward as the car rounded the corner and fled the scene.
It took but a moment to jump down from his vantage, not the brightest idea under the circumstances, his shin bones felt it. She looked so damned defiant in profile, wet hair clinging to her face as she panted and blinked away the rain, her hands shaking but grip still firm on the gun.
She hadn't even noticed him yet standing behind her now, so bent and determined in her assigned task, chin thrust forward and jaw clenched.
"Your accuracy has improved, DeGrace," Arthur murmured lightly twisting her wrist forcing her fingers apart as he effortlessly retrieved the firearm from her slackened grip. "Your peripheral vision still needs work, however."
"In case you missed it, Pendragon I was attempting to save your sorry ass!"
Arthur smirked. "Sorry. It was either that or you would have shot me point blank out of blind terror alone."
Rubbing her wrist, Gwen scowled. He did have a point. She would have rounded on him in the adrenalin rush, just as in practice.
She so hated when he was right.